Articles & Advice

Your Developing Baby

From the moment your baby enters this world, he is learning. He has come from a dark, tiny space in your uterus to the bright open spaces of our world. His senses are being bombarded with stimulation! Is it any wonder that he is unpredictable during these early weeks?

• Your baby's head is large compared to the rest of his body. His head may have a bump or two from labor or from help he received during birth.
• His eyes may be bloodshot and eyelids swollen. Occasional crossed eyes are common in the first weeks.
• His skin may be dry and flaky with a rash or two.
• Baby's (boy's or girl's) breast tissue may be swollen due to your hormones that remain in his or her body.

Your baby's look will change quickly in the first week. Remember that your baby has five senses—sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch—and wants to learn through all of them. Many adults believe that because a baby isn't moving much, he can't take in what is around him. But your baby is learning everything he can about his new world.

Normal Physical Development

• Her head needs to be supported at all times. She may lift her head briefly.
• She startles easily and often.
• Her hands are fisted or slightly opened.
• Hiccups are common, but not painful.
• Sneezing cleans her nose of lint, dust, and mucus.

Sensory Motor Development

• He stares at objects, yet doesn't reach for them.
• He responds warmly to comfort and negatively to pain.
• When a rattle is placed in his hand, he quickly drops it.
• His hearing is well developed, but he will not look for the source of the sound. He does not like loud voices or loud music.
• He sees best within 30 cm (12 inches) of his face. He likes bold shapes and the contrast between light and dark. He especially likes looking at faces.

Seeing

At birth, your baby will gaze at objects 20 to 40 cm (8 to 15 inches) away from him. Remarkably, this is about the distance from his eyes to the face of a person who is feeding or holding him. Eye-to-eye contact may be brief at first, but it will increase during the early weeks after birth. Your baby may follow a face or an object slowly from side to side. His vision improves rapidly during the first 6 months and continues to improve through the preschool years.

Infants notice extreme dark-light contrasts. A simple bull's-eye or diagonally striped patterns in black and white seem interesting to them. Newborns look at the outer edges of patterns, while several months later, babies tend to look at the inner details.

Babies can get bored looking at the same thing too long. Babies also can look away when they want a rest. Your newborn can move his head as well as his eyes. This is one way he is able to explore and get information from the world around him.

Babies seem to have a natural liking for the human face. Perhaps they like human faces because expressions can change and be continuously interesting, yet still be familiar. Babies just a few days old have been observed imitating certain facial expressions. For example, they may respond to a parent's smile or frown with similar facial movements. This responsiveness encourages parents in their new role, while aiding the natural development of babies' social relationships.

Hearing

Parents often can confirm the fact that newborns are able to hear. When startled by a noise, your infant may stiffen her body and legs. She may thrust her arms outward and then pull them back close to her chest. Crying often accompanies these movements.

Babies seem to like sounds that change, such as a voice or music, more than sounds that stay the same. Soft music—sung or from a musical toy—is pleasing to babies. Talk to your baby often. Your baby prefers human voices to other sounds. Parents and other caregivers have many natural opportunities to talk to their babies right from birth. Feeding time, bathing time, and dressing time all lend themselves to communication with infants. Around the house, parents can talk about people, activities, toys, and other objects. While your baby is riding in a car or stroller, you can talk about what she's seeing. And anytime is right to express love and praise.

When parents talk to young babies, sometimes the babies "keep time" with arm and hand motions. Babies can tell the difference between sounds. They seem to react more to normal, rhythmic speech than to nonsense vowel sounds. This may be the beginning of language for them. Hearing people talk is very important for a baby's development.

Touching, Tasting and Smelling

Babies naturally experience the feel of different textures—for instance, when they are being bathed, dried, dressed, or wrapped in a blanket. Babies who like being cuddled usually relax and snuggle up to the person holding them. These times of relaxation are important for babies and enjoyable for parents, too.

Babies' lips seem to be particularly sensitive to touch. They react to a touch on the lips by smacking their lips and sucking. Babies can taste and smell from the time of their birth. In tests, babies have turned their heads away from strong odors. Newborns appear to have smells they prefer, as well. Several studies have shown that newborns prefer the taste and smell of their own mother's milk to that of other mothers. They may also enjoy or dislike certain flavors in breast milk from foods their mother has eaten.

Your Baby's Reflexes

Your baby has many automatic reactions or reflexes. The startle reaction of newborns to sudden noises is just one of these. Later behavior and movements stem from these early reflexes. As your baby develops, he'll learn to better control his muscles. Early reflexes gradually fade with this development.

A major reflex of your newborn is the one that helps him open his mouth and find the nipple for feeding. This is called the rooting reflex. Before breastfeeding, a mother can touch her baby's lips with her nipple so that he will open his mouth to nurse. The same occurs with the bottle-fed baby. When the nipple touches the baby's lips, he will open his mouth and look for the nipple to suck. The baby might also breathe more rapidly and make sucking noises, as though feeding.

There are some other reflexes you may see in your newborn:

• He can pull back if he is pricked and can sneeze to clear out his nose.
• He can yawn to increase the air in his lungs.
• He can turn his head to one side if his breathing is blocked. In experiments, babies have swung their hands and fists to move a cloth covering their face. But parents shouldn't rely on these reflexes for safety. Pillows, large and floppy toys, thick blankets, or plastic sheeting should never be left where your baby sleeps. And the Canadian Pediatric Society recommends that healthy babies sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). SIDS is a term used to describe the unexpected death of babies in their sleep for no known reason.
• When he is placed on his stomach, your baby may make a kind of crawling movement. Some babies actually move forward or backward.
• When they are held in an upright position, with their feet touching a firm surface, babies may make high-stepping movements that look like walking.
• Newborns have a grasp reflex and young babies can curl their fingers around anything small placed in their hands. Their strength is surprising.

Intellectual and Social Development

Interaction between you and your baby, even at this young age, is very important to her intellectual, social, and emotional development. You are her window to the world and she will learn how to act and interact with others by watching you. How you respond to her cries, satisfy her needs, and show her love will determine how she sees the world.

Early Infant Feeding

Providing nourishment is only a part of what happens during a feeding.

• Feeding is an opportunity to give your full attention as you hold your baby close.
• Talk to him throughout the feeding.
• Feedings are a time for you and your baby to learn about each other.
• A newborn is not very hungry the first 2 or 3 days. Frequent feedings, taking small amounts at each feeding, are common.
• Signals from your baby that he is ready to feed include lip smacking, tongue movement, and eye fluttering. Crying is a late signal of hunger.

Cord Care

If this is your first baby, you may be concerned about how to properly care for the remains of the umbilical cord. To keep the area clean, swab the umbilical cord (navel) each time you change your baby's diaper. Soak a cotton-tipped swab in rubbing alcohol and gently wipe the tip and base of the cord area. She may squirm because the alcohol is cool, but you are not hurting her. It can take several weeks for the cord stump to fall off. Continue this care for a week after it does.

Bathing

Baths can be fun, but the first few will be learning experiences for both you and your baby. Be confident that soon you will both enjoy this ritual. This new experience, like other new experiences, will be more pleasant for both you and your baby if you talk softly, explaining what you're doing and why. Don't feel silly using full sentences with a newborn. Babies need to be exposed to language. The more you talk to the baby now, the more likely he will enjoy being talked to or read to later.

Daily bathing of newborns dries their skin and is unnecessary. Newborn babies don't get very dirty, except for the diaper area, which you will clean at each diaper change. Until the umbilical cord stump has fallen off and the circumcision site (if one was done) has healed, only a sponge bath is needed. After that two or three baths a week are plenty.

Your Sleeping Baby

Newborn babies do not have the same sleep patterns as adults. Regular sleep patterns develop as they get older. Newborns usually sleep 16-18 hours a day. They sleep 2-3 hours, wake up, eat, and go to sleep again. They often seem to have no real pattern and no regard for whether it's day or night (much to Mom and Dad's dismay!).

At about 6 weeks old, their sleep and wake pattern begins to become established and by 16 weeks, many will have settled into a regular schedule.

When putting your baby to bed, remember, the Canadian Pediatric Society recommends that healthy infants sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). SIDS is a term used to describe the unexpected death of babies in their sleep for no known reason.

The Risk of SIDS

For many new parents, the lack of definitive information about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) makes it especially concerning. To learn more about this topic and how you can reduce the risk of SIDS, visit The Canadian Pediatric Society at www.cps.ca.

How Dad Can Help

Few life experiences will demand more support, love and wisdom than fatherhood. Consider these tips to help you deliver the sharing and caring so important to your baby.

Share in Baby Care

If Mom has chosen to breastfeed, support her decision and stay involved in baby care so you won't feel left out during feedings. Take turns waking your baby, getting her ready for a feeding, feeding her with a bottle of expressed breast milk when the time comes, burping her, or changing her diapers. The more responsibilities you can share, the closer you'll get to baby and Mom.

Keep Your Baby Safe

• Never leave your baby unattended, not even for a minute, when he is on any surface above the floor.
• Always place your baby on his back when laying him down for sleep unless your health care provider advises another position. And never let anyone smoke around your baby. A stomach-down sleep position—and exposure to secondhand smoke—have been associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS is a term used to describe the unexpected death of babies in their sleep for no known reason.
• Always place your baby in an infant seat when she is riding in the car and secure the seat according to the manufacturer's instructions. Never put an infant in a car seat that is protected by an air bag. The back seat is the safest place for children.
• Never shake your baby, no matter how frustrated or impatient you may feel. Shaking an infant could cause blindness, brain damage, or even death.

Baby Blues

Many new moms experience postpartum blues—or emotional ups and downs—after giving birth. Childbirth, the demands of a new baby, and hormonal changes can leave a new mom sore, tired, and sometimes depressed. Continue to be understanding and remember that Mom just gave birth to a new life, a very special but exhausting experience.